Daily Telegraph - Monday 14 February 2005

Govt lukewarm on 40kph CBD rezone

February 14, 2005

A COUNCIL plan to reduce speed limits in central Sydney to 40kph could be overruled by the NSW government.

City of Sydney Council is due to meet tonight to assess submissions on its plans to introduce the 40kph zone.

But NSW Premier Bob Carr today said he could not rule out overriding the council if it pushed ahead with the changes.

He said he had to consider the impact the rezoning would have on the central business district's workforce and not just pedestrian safety.

"I am not in favour of reducing it until I see some strong arguments.

"The city has got to be kept moving, the federal government is running a mass immigration policy that brings a thousand people a week into the city and that's putting pressure on it," he said.

"We will look seriously at anything the city council promotes but I've got a responsibility to see that the traffic in the city continues to move."

A City of Sydney spokesman said a council survey found more than 70 per cent of people backed the proposal last November.

"It has widespread public support and it is in line with the RTA's pedestrian safety reform," he said.

Only the RTA, and not the state government, was in a position to override a council decision to reduce the speed limit, he said.

"We would expect that it (the proposal) would meet the RTA's requirements."

The full report will be finalised in a week.

Bob Carr said yesterday that he could not rule out intervening if the city
decided to go ahead with the changes, because of the impact it would have on
the CBD's workforce.

"I am not in favour of reducing it until I see some strong arguments," he
said. "The city has got to be kept moving - the Federal Government is
running a mass immigration policy that brings a thousand people a week into
the city, and that's putting pressure on it. We will look seriously at
anything the city council promotes, but I've got a responsibility to see
that the traffic in the city continues to move."

Mr Carr's statement would not prevent the Roads and Traffic Authority
considering the council's application, an authority spokesman said.

A City of Sydney spokesman said a council survey in November found that more
than 70 per cent of people backed the proposal. "It has widespread public
support and it is in line with the RTA's pedestrian safety reform," he said.
Only the authority - not the State Government - could override a council
decision to reduce the speed limit, he said.

Jeff Lewis, a spokesman for the city, said during periods of heavy
congestion the average speed in the city was about 12kmh.

Sydney's Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, said pedestrian safety was the main
reason to reduce the speed limit. "A pedestrian is twice as likely to be
killed by a vehicle travelling at 50kmh than a vehicle travelling at 40kmh,"
she said.

High pedestrian activity zones, in which vehicles are limited to 40kmh,
already operate in North Sydney, Chatswood, Parramatta, Fairfield, Balmain
and Avalon. If approved, the CBD 40kmh zone would cover the area from
Central station to Circular Quay and from Darling Harbour to Kings Cross.

In 1999 the then minister for transport and minister for roads, Carl Scully,
voiced support for a 40kmh limit in the city and assured the council that
all costs would be met by the RTA.

"While we would support moves to improve pedestrian safety, we would like to
see more detail on what benefits this reduction will achieve," a State
Chamber of Commerce spokesman said. "We would also like to see some
investigation into the potential impact on traffic flow and its flow-on
effect for business."

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